Rewind
by background-chan
Summary: ("Is it worth it?" "...Yes.") In which she decides to start over, because no matter how many times they insist, he's not gone unless she says so.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter Summary

 **In which you're introduced to the main character in the worst way possible and resign yourself to suspending your disbelief so much that you might as well be in outer space.**

* * *

It is considered highly rude to ignore people when they wave at you.

She doesn't particularly care. They can waste their energy lifting their arms, they could wonder who raised her when she didn't waste her energy back. She wasn't there for them, they weren't the reason she bothered to put one foot in front of the other. She was walking to the bus, not to them.

It is considered highly rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversations.

However, she supposes it's socially acceptable when the said people are practically announcing it to the world. Even if they weren't, she doesn't particularly care. The only way a conversation could be private is when no other people are around or they managed to communicate telepathically. Since the conversation was about a family feud, she wished telepathy was a thing.

It is considered highly rude to not add an honorific to a person's name.

She doesn't particularly care, even though the person in front of her seemed to. Saying a person's name was a waste of energy in itself, adding the right "title" was just exhausting to do all the time. She lazily continued to talk to them then left the classroom, ignoring the scandalized looks of her classmates. They didn't need to be so overdramatic, at least she bothered to say his name at all.

It is considered highly rude to stare.

She doesn't care, the guy didn't even realize someone was looking at him. And it's hypocritical to stare at a person when they're staring. It only sparks an unwanted competition until everyone stares at other people and no one except the guy originally being stared at was actually listening to the teacher, which was was happened. The confused homeroom teacher managed to get everyone's attention back but hers. Hinata Shōyō only realized someone was looking at him through his classmates, after the class, but by then she was long gone.

It is considered highly rude to start a story in the middle, but she doesn't particularly care.

(It's not like she's in some stupid fanfiction or anything.)

* * *

He knows her from somewhere, of that much he is certain.

She looks a little different from what he subconsciously remembers, but the feeling of safety always resurfaces when he looks at her. Safely and...comfort?

Which is odd, because she's the loner. The outcast. The one with the bad reputation. There were rumors floating around saying she was arrested at one point, which wouldn't be so far-fetched if you'd met her in person. She's the type who's as mean as she looks.

Don't get him wrong, he knows that looks aren't everything. Looking at Asahi, you'd think that he killed at least one person, but that guy was the nicest person he'd ever met. But he'd not only heard what other people were saying, he'd also seen what she was like.

Not adding honorifics, completely ignoring other people, being _way_ too blunt—to be honest, rude didn't even _begin_ to describe her.

So why did he feel…?

Sawamura Daichi always trusted his instincts because they were always right.

So when he learned the girl he'd been staring at during homeroom's name was "Akabane Nozomi", he startled his friend by jumping up and loudly exclaiming "I _knew_ it!"

* * *

"But she's a first-year!" he protested. His friend shot him another pleading look but he ignored him in favor of childishly kicking a rock. It was slightly out-of-character for him, but he was having a bad day even _before_ Daichi started acting weird.

"It doesn't matter if she's a first-year or not." Daichi hiked his bag up a little higher. "What matters is how good she is."

"How are you so sure she's good? You haven't even met her." _Just stared at her like a creep for half an hour_ , he mentally added.

Daichi sighed tiredly. "I just...I met her before, ok?"

He eyed the other somewhat suspiciously. "You did?"

"Yeah, she was the one who taught me how to play volleyball."

"I thought that was a long time ago."

"Not really. I was around...ten?"

"You were taught by a seven-year-old?"

"I said I was _around_ that age."

"That doesn't make it any better."

Daichi sighed again, this time exasperatedly. "Look, the point is, I know her, and she's _good_ , ok?"

"Well...hey. How do you even remember her anyway?"

"I remember her name," Daichi shrugged.

"What if it's just a coincidence?" he pressed.

Daichi looked ahead and stopped. "One way to find out, I guess."

He realized the girl he and his friend were following (at a distance, of course) had reached what he presumed was her house. They watched as she unlocked the door with her key.

"We're neighbors?" Daichi whispered in shock.

"Maybe...she just moved in?" he supplied weakly.

They hesitated before walking up her porch. He rang the doorbell then awkwardly waited. His friend fidgeted when, a few minutes in, no one had answered the door. He tried ringing the doorbell a couple more times.

"Maybe we should go," Daichi relented, a full seven minutes later.

Just as they turned around, the door slammed open. "What," a flat voice said.

Sugawara Koushi couldn't answer, because you know what? Screw this.

She _does_ look like Coach Red.

* * *

He never actually _wanted_ to be in this dumb team in the first place. So what if you "finally" managed to drag someone else into this dump?

Yay, another person to boss him around.

Beside his more optimistic friend and his more optimistic friends, Tsukishima Kei ( _Kei_ , not Hotaru you _imbecile_ -) wanted to buy a better pair of headphones. The box said "noise-cancelling", his ears said "noise- _channeling_ ". He sighed yet again, a bit louder this time, but apparently all of the people around him had _noise-cancelling ears_ or something, because no one reacted.

The idiots kept talking until Captain MoronTM and his friend came in and unnecessarily announced their presence. He then ordered them to stand in a line, which Kei (stop getting my name wrong ca _n't you read_ -) wasn't too happy about but did anyway, because he was a jerk, not a rebellious emo.

"Alright team, listen up," Daichi the "Captain Moron" said. _You lined us up of course we have to listen to you, what else do you expect us to be doing-_ "Because of the school's rules, I will no longer be your acting coach. Suga and I have recruited the person who will be taking my place. Please take care of her."

Baldy and Shorty, The IdiotsTM, began to grin uncontrollably and stared expectantly at the gym doors. It seemed they got excited when Captain MoronTM mentioned a female. Tadashi nudged Kei (Kei. _Kei_. _**Kei**_.) "Who do you think it'll be, Tsukki?"

"I don't care."

Unfortunately, even if he didn't, he was facing the doors and (obviously, he wasn't blind) saw who came in.

Unlike the other idiots, however, he didn't stupidly trip over nothing and fall over when Akabane Nozomi came in.

* * *

 _A/N: Welcome to the Haikyuu angst-filled fanfiction that no one asked for but I made anyway. The first chapter introduces more questions than characters, but I promise that it will get better. Please stay tuned, and feel free to share with me your opinion in the comments._

 _(I'll need it.)_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Summary:

 **In which you end up with more questions then you signed up for and approximately zero answers _._**

* * *

She should've let them leave when they finally decided to. Those two have been nothing but trouble ever since she met them, so meeting them again was no doubt a bad omen.

She would never admit to having a slight panic attack when she saw who rang the doorbell. Of course, being Daichi's neighbor for three years, she was really pushing her luck hoping they would never realize the house across his was occupied by _her_. She just...wasn't ready yet. In fact, she was just _starting_ to get ready.

…after three years.

It took her more than five minutes to compose herself enough to open the door and give her usual greeting.

"What."

…Well, _greeting_ was far too strong a word, but it worked as well as the tiring "Hi-how-may-I-help-you". Apparently, though, her little "greeting" startled them enough so that Daichi violently flinched and Koushi's voice box stopped working.

Or maybe she slammed the door open too hard.

Either way, she wasn't about to go waiting for them to restart their scrambled brains to hear them say what they wanted to say. If she did then she would miss her favorite sports program. So she made a big show of trying to close the door again, which prompted Daichi to go all theatrical on her, letting out a desperate " _Wait!_ " and jamming his foot between the door and the doorway.

This somehow led to them inviting themselves into her house, so they were now sitting on her couch in an atmosphere (somehow) even more awkward than the one outside. As they stared uncomfortably but intently at each other, she wondered why they prolonged the unpleasant silence, and why they even bothered following her home if they weren't going to do anything.

"So…" Koushi began. Trailing off, unfortunately, but it was a start.

Daichi cleared his throat. "Um, we're sorry for barging in on you like this, Akabane-san."

"…"

Looking extremely uncomfortable with her silence and a lot less confident, he tried again. "My ah, name is—I don't know if you know me but—my name is Sawamura Daichi."

"Oh," Koushi perked up. "I'm Sugawara Koushi. My friends call me Suga!"

"..."

As they looked expectantly at her, she could help but allow some of her exasperation to show on her face. He had literally just said her name. They had literally just followed her home. She was no Sherlock, but they really didn't expect her to think that they didn't know who she _was_ , did they?

Daichi cleared his throat again, confidence officially gone. "Well, yeah, so…"

"We came to ask you if you're Coach Red." Koushi was apparently as sick of this as she was, as he seemed to finally get that she wouldn't be talking anytime soon.

Daichi, on the other hand, appeared confused. "Coach Red?"

Koushi nodded. "The one who taught me how to play volleyball."

"E-eh?!"

* * *

He didn't like her at all.

Oh, he'd heard of her alright. Akabane Nozomi, the mean girl that once made his classmate Hisoka cry. He hated bullies with a passion, and apparently so did the rest of the team, if the glares were anything to go by. He could've sworn Tsukishima the Jerk's face lost its smirk, too.

" _ **That's** who's replacing you, Sawamura-senpai?!_" the team exclaimed.

(Most of them, anyway. Tsukishima just scratched his nose.)

"Yes," Sawamura said sternly. "She _will_ be your coach, and you will either _accept_ that or _**leave the team**_."

There was a beat of silence after that, because as much as they hated the idea of being in close quarters with her, they loved volleyball too much to quit it because of her. Still, he slid next to Sawamura-san and whispered, "Ne, senpai, isn't she a criminal, though?"

Irked, Sawamura smacked the back of his head and yelled, voice oddly shrill. " _NO!_ " As if realizing how high his voice suddenly became, he switched back to Captain Mode. "She's not a criminal. She was your classmate and now she's your coach. And as your coach, you can bet that she'll train you to become the best volleyball players Japan has ever seen, so that one day Karasuno will regain its rightful place as champion!"

None of the members looked particularly inspired after their captain's little speech, but a few felt obligated to clap. They stopped after an insulted Sawamura threatened to turn them inside out.

"Now what are your first orders, coach?"

The team waited expectantly. He managed to tone down his glare enough so that the captain wouldn't notice, but he still didn't like the idea of her being able to boss him around, or even seeing her at volleyball practice _every day_. Still, captain's (well, now _ex-captain's_ ) orders. He could only hope she would decide to leave soon or something, because…

"Take off your shirts," she ordered.

Yep, Hinata Shōyō didn't like her at all.

* * *

Don't get him wrong, he didn't hate girls.

In fact, he _loved_ girls. _Adored_ them. Not just because he was desperate for a girlfriend, but because his mother made sure to teach him that girls weren't objects, that they were all to be _respected_ , that they were all _gifts to mankind_ …

So maybe Akabane was supposed to be a guy…?

Honestly, he wouldn't have developed such an allergy to her had he not come in contact with her at one point. He's met mean girls before; sometimes the girls were way meaner bullies than the guys. That didn't mean he _hated_ them.

But she took it way too far!

She called Sakura-chan fat! She called Kako-sama stupid! She stole from Ukai-san's store! She's a mean, mean _criminal_!

Ok, so _maybe_ half of those things he heard from his classmates' friends' cousins' friends' roommates, but didn't she know how extremely _rude_ it is to omit the honorific of a person when speaking to them? She may be taller than him, but he was still her senpai!

And now she had the _nerve_ to _order_ him to—

"Take off your shirts."

Beside him, Tanaka started to complain, his words trailing off pretty quickly when Captain's Death Glare was trained on him. He grungily removed his shirt along with the rest of the team.

Everyone became uncomfortably stiff as Bakabane (he would never say it out loud, Captain would kill him) scrutinized each of their shirtless members individually before writing something down on her clipboard. Her unimpressed stare never changed, nor did she reveal what she was doing, which slightly unnerved him. She was getting closer and still hadn't said a word.

A single sweat drop rolled down the side of his neck. _What a creep._ She walked up to the next person. _I'm next._ Although it was Kageyama's turn, he could barely see with his head spinning so fast. _What is she doing?_ The mounting nervousness (which he would later label as _hate_ because he wasn't _nervous_ ) threatened to blow as she dipped down her pencil to write _whatever she was writing_.

And unfortunately, it did.

" _What are you even **doing** , you creep?!_"

Shocked silence. It was on everyone's minds for sure, but no one had dared voice it out for fear of being turned inside-out by Captain. The said third-year had opened his mouth—presumably to yell at him—but Bakabane held up her hand, silencing him.

(How could she do that?! First she _replaces_ Captain then she acts like she has the power to—)

 _Clatter!_

He flinched at the sound of her clipboard hitting the floor. He looked up to see empty air and the doors swinging shut, signaling her abrupt exit. Ah, that was his fault, wasn't it? Judging from that growling sound, maybe he should run before Captain…

" _ **NISHINOYA!**_ "

 _At least it was worth it_ , he reflected as he ran for his life. _I doubt she'll be coming back now_.

* * *

"Why is Sawamura-senpai mad?" he asked, watching said volleyball captain strangle Nishinoya-senpai.

Suga-senpai laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head. "Daichi-kun's just a bit…offended, for Akabane-san. He's especially sensitive towards the rumors."

He really hadn't formed an opinion on that "Akabane-san", although his teammates apparently did, if their glares were anything to go by. He was new to Karasuno; the most he knew about this school is that it apparently had a very dysfunctional volleyball team. He did wonder what she did, though. The rumors were quite worrying.

"So she _didn't_ steal anything?" he inquired.

"Oh, no."

"And she didn't start a fist fight?"

"Nope."

"She's not a mafia boss?"

"No…?"

He bowed abruptly, nearly headbutting Suga-senpai before sprinting blindly off towards the exit. "Thank you Suga-senpai—!"

He only took two (admittedly large) steps before tripping over something and falling face-first onto the gym floor. Grunting in response to his senpai's calls of concern, he picked up the object he tripped on while rubbing the red mark on his forehead.

 _Akabane-san's clipboard?_ He remembered her dropping it before her hasty retreat. _But why did no one pick it up…?_ He glanced towards Nishinoya-senpai, whose face was turning an even deeper shade of purple and threatening to explode. _Ah, now I remember._

He scanned her notes, blinking several times in shock. The names of his teammates were written in the top, followed by extremely detailed reports of their strength and weaknesses. He rubbed his eyes before looking again, unwilling to believe that she could've gotten these observations through one look-over alone. The accuracy of the notes was amazing, despite being hard to decipher due to the messiness of her handwriting.

(Suga-senpai has become extremely worried at the sight of his kouhai sitting on the floor in shock after doing a faceplant on the hard floor and continues his worried calls with patient persistence in the background. Said kouhai doesn't notice.)

The first-year realizes that he had been given the chance of a lifetime to be shown his weaknesses and how to improve them. Quickly, he navigated to the bottom of the page and found his name.

 _Ah! My stats! I wonder what my…Nani?!_

Kageyama Tobio rubbed his eyes again, turned the same page several times, then openly despaired at the single incomplete sentence written under his name. _She must've been interrupted when Nishinoya-senpai—!_

Groaning, he fought the overwhelming urge to curl up into a ball. _Why me…?_

(In the distance, Suga-senpai's worry tripled at the sight of his kouhai's distressed state, prompting him to ask if he had a headache and to offer the painkillers that he always carried around in his backpack. Said kouhai _does_ have a headache, but his senpai's words go unheard.)

Tobio jumped to his feet with a new reason to live and dashed off even faster than Akabane had. The gust of wind he created saved his senpai's life as Sawamura let go of his neck for a split second before trying to pop it off but he would never know that, as would Sugawara never know what caused his kouhai to go through five intense emotions in the span of three seconds. All he knew was—

 _I'm gonna find her!_

* * *

 _A/N: Here's the update that no one wanted but I posted anyway. If you like it so far, please leave a kudo or something. I'd also love to know your opinions on my story, be it positive or negative._

 _(Lord knows I need it.)_


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